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Disease and Pseudo-Disease: A Case History of Pseudo-Angina

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Physicians of Western Medicine

Part of the book series: Culture, Illness and Healing ((CIHE,volume 6))

Abstract

One of the most useful contributions of medical anthropology to the study of health and ill-health in different cultures, has been the analytical distinction between “disease” and “illness”, between the perspectives of the Western-trained clinician and that of the patient. Various writers on this theme, such as Cassell (1976), Eisenberg (1977), Fábrega (1973, 1975), Lewis (1975), and Kleinman (1978, 1980) have all pointed out the differences and the complex interrelationship between these two perspectives. In their view, “disease” refers to “objective” abnormalities of the structure and function of body organs and systems, which can be grouped into named pathological entities such as diabetes and tuberculosis. By contrast, “illness” refers to the subjective response of the patient to being unwell; how he, and those around him, perceive the origin and significance of this event; how this event effects his relationships with others; and the steps he, and they, take to remedy the situation. Unlike disease, illness has psychological, moral, and social dimensions, and is part of the wider spectrum of misfortune in general. In the view of Engel (1980) and Cassell (1976), these wider dimensions of misfortune cannot be dealt with within the biomedical model of disease, which they see as characterised by mind-body dualism, and a view of the complexity of ill-health merely “reduced to physico-chemical terms” (Engel 1980: 536).

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Authors
  1. Cecil G. Helman
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Robert A. Hann

  2. Departments of Anthropology and Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University and Medical School, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Atwood D. Gaines

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© 1985 D. Reidel Publishing Company

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Helman, C.G. (1985). Disease and Pseudo-Disease: A Case History of Pseudo-Angina. In: Hann, R.A., Gaines, A.D. (eds) Physicians of Western Medicine. Culture, Illness and Healing, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6430-3_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6430-3_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-277-1881-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-6430-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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